Printers, whether embodied on a peripheral printing device, a stand-alone printing device, a facsimile machine or an all-in-one or multi-functional device, have become commonplace in the home and office. As a result, paper consumption has increased significantly. Furthermore, a significant portion of printed paper finds its way into the paper recycling system. Indeed, it has been suggested that as much as 21 percent of printed (black and white) documents make their way into the recycling system the same day they are printed.
Reimageable, self-erasing paper (“erasable paper”) was developed in an effort to curb paper consumption by printers. One example of erasable paper is paper that incorporates embedded photochromic particles within the paper. The photochromic particles may be activated to an imaged state upon exposure to light of a certain predetermined wavelength. The imaged photochromic particles fade back to their un-imaged state in an ambient environment after a certain amount of time (e.g., after 16 hours). Photochromic-based erasable paper is described in greater detail in U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2005/0287475 published on Dec. 29, 2005 (U.S. Ser. No. 11/215,950 filed on Aug. 30, 2005).
However, in certain circumstances, there still remains a need for printing permanent documents. For example, while many documents may be stored in electronic format (e.g., as PDF files on a storage medium) and may be printed, reviewed briefly, then discarded, certain documents, such as wills, must remain in their original, physical form. Therefore, such documents cannot be printed using a transient imaging means.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for printing documents using both a transient imaging means and a permanent imaging means, as desired.